1. Field of the Invention
The invention is related to the field of computer systems, and in particular, to methods and software products for protecting against software piracy or unlicensed use of software.
2. Statement of the Problem
Many people use computers daily at work or at home. For common personal computer software, a single license is granted to the customer purchasing the software. The customer can then install the software on their computer and run the software. The software typically displays the licensing agreement to the customer when the customer installs the software. The software may also have an optional/automatic registration screen that collects information on the customer and provides the information to the software vendor via the Internet. The connection to a network, however, is not necessary for installing every piece of software.
One problem for software vendors is unauthorized copying of the software or installation of the software on multiple computers. Software is typically sold on a computer-readable medium such as floppy disks or CDs. A customer may copy the floppy disk or CD and distribute the copies to others for installation on multiple computers. The customer may also use the floppy disk or CD to install the software on one computer, and then use the same floppy disk or CD to install the software on other computers. Unauthorized copying and installation such as this may breach licensing agreements between the customer and the software vendor, and may violate state and federal laws against such acts. The unauthorized copying and installation result in lost revenue for the software vendors. The lost revenues drive up the cost of the software which the customers ultimately end up paying. Current protection against unauthorized copying and installation of software do not effectively prevent the illegal acts.